Who is Suryakant Waghmore? IIT-Bombay professor questions faculty protest against dean’s removal over student suicide | Today’s news
Suryakant Waghmore, professor of sociology at IIT-Bombay, criticized the institution’s faculty forum for siding with professor Suryanarayan Doolla in the student suicide case, claiming that the faculty body was trying to put pressure on the committee investigating the matter.
“Faculty forum is not a legal body.. they are putting pressure on the inquiry committee. Not all faculties identify with this group…” Waghmore said in a post on X, also sharing a statement issued by the IIT-B Faculty Forum.
Waghmore also criticized the forum for launching a protest after Doolla was removed from the deanship of the institute.
In another post, X Waghmore said: “the deanship is accepted and they protest. Is the birth of the deanship right? What kind of dean speaks to students with such insensitivity?”
What was in the statement of the Faculty Forum
“We strongly express our solidarity with our colleague Prof. Suryanarayana Doolla, who has been performing his duties in accordance with the current academic policy of the institute as approved by the Senate,” the forum said in a statement.
“Prof. Doolla, the course lecturer, was awake for the mid-term exam on Friday 18 September 2026 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM when he found a student engaging in academic misconduct, namely the unauthorized possession and use of a smartphone during the exam.”
“The Faculty Forum of IIT Bombay is absolutely saddened by the tarnishing of the reputation of our colleague Prof. Suryanarayan Doolla, who was only performing his academic duties and following the procedures approved by the institute,” the statement added.
Who is Suryakant Waghmore?
Suryakant Waghmore is Professor of Sociology at IIT-Bombay.
Waghmore received a PhD in Sociology as a Commonwealth Scholar from the University of Edinburgh (2010), a BA in Political Science, History and Economics from the University of Karnataka (1999) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Community Development from TISS (2001).
Before joining IIT-B, Waghmore served as Professor and Chairman of the Center for Social Justice and Governance at TISS. he also worked as a visiting professor at the School of Social Development and Policy, Fudan University (2019), Center for South Asia – Stanford University (2013); School of Humanities – Hyderabad Central University (2011); Center for Modern Native American Studies – University of Göttingen (2015).
In his own words, which appear on the institute’s official website, his research includes the study of “social exclusion, marginal politics, political processes and relations between the state and civil society”.
